Seattle police officers swarm the area near 7th and Weller (Photo from Susan Lee Woo)
Photo from Susan Lee Woo
It was a chaotic scene on Sunday night during the 2024 Annual Chinatown Seafair Parade after reports of possible shots fired.
Our Northwest Asian Weekly intern was covering the parade when he noticed something was going on, and he became wary.
“People were originally saying it was a gun, so I did not want to get too close.”
The Seattle Chinese Community Girls Drill Team went indoors to shelter in place, and the Chong Wa Benevolent Association went into lockdown.
The Seattle Chinese Community Girls Drill Team sheltering in place (Photo from Susan Lee Woo)
Seattle Police told us that around 7:31 p.m., patrol officers responded to reports of teenage boys seen with guns near 7th Avenue South and South Weller Street in the Chinatown-International District.
Seattle police cruisers blocked the road near 7th and Weller on Sunday, July 21, 2024. (Photo by William Maasbach/Northwest Asian Weekly staff)
One of the callers suspected these teens might have been involved in her son’s recent murder in Auburn, though that hasn’t been confirmed. Another caller, the father of the murdered boy, believed the suspects were taunting him.
When the police showed up, they found the three teens nearby and arrested them. Each of them had a handgun on them. Turns out, two of those guns were reported stolen and modified to be fully automatic.
The suspects were two 14 year olds, and a 13 year old.
Any links to the Auburn murder have not been verified and this case remains under investigation.